International Experts Testify in Spain's National Court as Tension Mounts and the Self-Immolations in Tibet Contiue

In the latest writ issued by the Audiencia
Nacional’s court Nº 2, two international experts have been
summoned to testify and ratify one of the two expert reports
presented by the CAT. The first, “The chain of command
in the People’s Republic of China and the direct
responsibility of Chinese leaders in the international
crimes committed in Tibet”, is written by experts from
the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and was presented on 26 October 2012. The first expert will
testify tomorrow 28th of Dec. 2012. No date has been fixed
yet for the second expert testimony.

The second expert report, “The Chinese
Communist Party and the chain of command in the government
in China and Tibet and the responsibility of Jiang Zemin
and Chen Kuiyan in crimes of genocide and other serious
human rights abuses committed against the Tibetan people
in China”, was presented by the CAT on 14 November and
was written by another group of experts from the Human
Rights Law Foundation (HRLF). These two reports aim to
extend the evidence regarding the responsibility of those
accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and
war crimes denounced in the original lawsuit admitted in
court on 10 January 2006 and in a subsequent extension to
the lawsuit that was admitted on 7 October 2008.

Both reports aim to extend and strengthen the
evidence and arguments submitted previously regarding the
chain of command in the government and the Chinese Communist
Party which points towards responsibility of the persons who
stand accused.

The expert witness Kate Saunders, who will
testify in court tomorrow the 28 December at 10 am., will
bring with her a new documentary that will explain briefly (15
minutes) but convincingly the growing tension in Tibet in
the context of the escalating oppression and the more than
94 self-immolations of Tibetans.

Kate Saunders is director of communications and
head of monitoring at the the International Campaign for
Tibet. Author and journalist specialising in China and Tibet
for 15 years, she authored “18 Layers of Hell: Stories From
The Chinese Gulag”, Cassell, 1994 numerous reports of Tibet
and articles in newspapers and publications worldwide,
including The Times, Washington Post, Guardian.

The second lawsuit admitted by Court Room Nº 1 on the 5th
of August 2008 is presently shelved. After loosing our
appeal to the Supreme Court we are now appealing to
Spain´s Constitutional Court arguing the violation of
fundamental rights in the whole process and calling for
the re-opening of the case.

Conclusions:

The CAT considers that this is proof that the
genocide and other international crimes that we denounced in
the past since the first lawsuit was lodged on 28 June 2005
are still taking place in the present with a different
rhythm and different methods but with the same objective:
that of eliminating the Tibetan people through police,
cultural and military repression.

It is unacceptable that the international
community continues to remain silent and even covers up this
state of impunity, which clearly favours the continuation of
crimes in Tibet. Since this legal battle in favour of
Tibetan victims was launched, the repeated human rights
violations have not abated: the systematic practice of
torture, forced disappearances, and a policy of apartheid
made possible by the colonization of this territory by
thousands of Chinese immigrants, which has accelerated with
the new trans-Himalayan railway, and the forced relocation
of the nomadic peoples now confined to internment camps that
are sadly reminiscent of the confining of native American
tribes.

As a result, the CAT continues to seek
universal justice as the only method of obtaining criminal
responsibility of the maximum leaders of the Chinese
Communist Party, and these declarations and reports are one
more step in this direction.

The Tibet cases in the Audiencia
Nacional and a brief documentary on the self-immolations
and current tense situation in Tibet

(See
annex below on the report/documentary)

Hosted
by:

Comité de Apoyo al
Tíbet (CAT)

Participants:

Dr. José Elias Esteve Moltó – Profesor
of International law at the University of Valencia,
researcher and author of the lawsuits, vice president of the
CAT)

Kate Saunders – expert witness in both
Tibet lawsuits, 15 years’ experience in Tibet and China,
author of "18 Layers of Hell: the story of the Chinese
gulag", communications director of the International
Campaign for Tibet.

Maite Parejo Sousa – lawyer specialising
in international criminal law and the Tibet cases

Alán Cantos - Director of the CAT
(principal plaintiffs)

Mini
documentary (15min / narration and subtitles in Spanish): "Storm in the
Grasslands: Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy"
produced by the International Campaign for Tibet (www.savetibet.org)

ANNEX: Information on the report and
documentary, “Storm in the Grasslands”:

A new report on the self-immolations in Tibet
and Chinese policy, “Storm in the Grasslands:
Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy, published by
the International Campaign for Tibet, 10 December 2012

International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) December
2012

Since February 2009, 92 Tibetans have
self-immolated in Tibet, with a dramatic acceleration in
frequency since the once-in-a-decade leadership transition
at the Chinese Communist Party Congress in November.
Twenty-eight Tibetans self-immolated in November alone,
marking a new phase in the political struggle in Tibet. Many
acts of self-immolation – that have recently been clustered
in politically restive areas of Amdo in eastern Tibet - have
been followed by mass gatherings of Tibetans to honour and
express solidarity with those who have called for freedom
for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama as they set
themselves on fire.

A new publication by the International Campaign
for Tibet, ‘Storm in the Grasslands: Self-immolations in
Tibet and Chinese policy’, published on December 10, reports
that an almost daily frequency of self-immolations in recent
weeks demonstrates a strong resolve among Tibetans to compel
the new Chinese leadership to confront the policies and
oppression that are the causes of these acts.

‘Storm
in the Grasslands: Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese
policy’ reports:

New evidence of the motivations for
self-immolation through the statements and last
conversations of Tibetans who self-immolated. Mostly their
communication has been addressed to fellow Tibetans, as
opposed to the Chinese authorities or the international
community, and they call for life-affirming actions of
protecting Tibetan cultural identity and connecting to
each other as a way of determining their own destiny.

The Chinese government has responded to the
self-immolations and unrest in Tibet by intensifying the
military build-up and strengthening the very policies and
approaches that are the root cause of the acts, such as
aggressive campaigns against loyalty to the Dalai Lama.
The Chinese Communist Party’s feared erosion of authority
and criminalization of self-immolation also leads to
retributive actions against families, relatives, or
monasteries associated with those who have self-immolated,
which creates a vicious spiral in which more people are
prepared to self-immolate because of the oppressive
conditions.

While the self-immolations are deeply
controversial, the overwhelming response from Tibetans to
those who self-immolate is one of respect and the
authorities’ attempts to turn people against them has been
a resounding failure.

Thousands of Tibetans have gathered to pray
and pay their respects for those who have self-immolated,
and peaceful protests involving Tibetans from all sectors
of society – schoolchildren, students, nomads, herders,
teachers - have often followed the self-immolations. The
responses by Tibetans across Tibet to the self-immolations
indicate both the significance of the actions as
statements, strong solidarity and unity among Tibetans,
and an alternate narrative of cultural resilience as
Tibetans take increasingly bold steps to defend the core
values of their culture.

Tibetans have sought to demonstrate their
allegiance to the Dalai Lama’s ethos of non-violence, and
ICT’s report includes images of symbolic expressions of
non-violent intent in which Tibetans hand in knives to be
destroyed along with wild animal pelts, in gestures that
illustrate vows to end internal strife and stay united.
There are still fears, however, of how the political
struggle in Tibet may develop if Chinese oppression
continues.

While the Chinese government has sought to
underplay the self-immolations, they expose a crisis in
the Beijing leadership’s Tibet policy. The
self-immolations are a dramatic and visible counter to the
claims of the Chinese Communist Party to be improving
Tibetans’ lives and they are a direct challenge to the
Party’s legitimacy in Tibet. Although the Chinese
government has sought to blame the Dalai Lama and ‘outside
forces’ for the self-immolations, It is acknowledged by
the international community as well as a number of
scholars and netizens in China that these dramatic
developments in Tibet reflect significant failures in
policy that must be addressed.

The ICT report ‘Storm in the Grasslands:
Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy’ will be
available for downloading as an electronic pdf at www.savetibet.org from December 10. It includes:

Details about the lives of 58 Tibetans who
have set fire to themselves, including translated copies
of notes they left behind or details of their last words
to friends and family.

An analysis of a direct correlation between
the self-immolations and an intensified campaign against
the Dalai Lama in Tibet together with the aggressive
expansion of legal measures tightening state control over
Tibetan religion and culture.

Insights from work team officials in Tibet of
the authorities’ new ‘war against secessionist sabotage’,
in which the Chinese government seeks to replace loyalty
to the Dalai Lama in Tibetan hearts and minds with
allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and undermine
Tibetan national identity.

An assessment of the official response to the
self-immolations. As the scale of the tragedy increased,
there appeared to be a level of ambiguity in official
reporting, although language became more strident
particularly at the time of the Communist Party Congress
in November, when self-immolations spiked in Tibet.

Advance copies of ‘Storm in the Grasslands:
Self-immolations in Tibet and Chinese policy’ are available
now. Images from the report are also available.
Contact press@savetibet.org.